016 | virginaustralia
AUGUST
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA {news}
Photography: iStockPhoto
PLAY ALONG
Tourism Victoria teams up with
Virgin Australia to give away
instant getaways to Melbourne.
QUITE A PRIVILEGE
Europcar's newly launched
Privilege program offers
customers exciting benefits.
Tourism Victoria's new campaign
Play Melbourne, the 10th in its long-
running Jigsaw strategy, plans to target
20-to-30-year-old domestic travellers.
The campaign reinforces Melbourne
as Australia's "vibrant, creative and
edgy city of experiences", according
to the Victorian minister for tourism
and major events, Louise Asher.
The campaign includes a year-long
competition at www.playmelbourne.
com.au where the winners will get
a trip to Melbourne for two, including
accommodation, transfers and return
airfares ying Virgin Australia. In line
with the spontaneous, playful nature of
the campaign, the winner is announced
on Wednesday to y that very Friday.
Europcar, one of Australia's most
popular car rental companies, has
announced a new program to grant
frequent renters express services,
rental upgrades and bene ts with
its partner Accor Hotels.
The Privilege program replaces
Europcar's Ready Rewards scheme,
giving its customers the opportunity to
take advantage of o ers and savings.
"The idea behind Privilege is simple.
The more a customer rents, the more
they get," says Europcar New Zealand
General Manager Steven Whyte.
"It builds on the success of Ready
Rewards, giving our valued customers
access to a host of additional bene ts."
Virgin Australia announces its new partnership with Air New Zealand,
boosting its trans-Tasman domestic flights by almost 30 per cent.
FLYING HIGH
Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand
have joined forces in an antipodean
alliance, with reciprocal codeshare on
trans-Tasman networks and aligned
fare structures.
"Customers are seeing the first
benefits of the new alliance, which we
will continue to develop over coming
months," says Virgin Australia Group
executive commercial Liz Savage.
"Virgin Australia customers will have
almost three times as many departure
times for trans-Tasman travel, as well
as new products and services, including
wide-body business class."
A shared frequent-flyer program
will cover both airlines' networks, and
eligible customers will enjoy reciprocal
lounge access, priority seating in
dedicated zones, and priority check-in,
baggage and boarding.
"We have worked hard to ensure
that the booking process is clear for
our customers, spelling out which
airline they will be flying on and the
inclusions involved," says Air New
Zealand Group general manager
Australasia Bruce Parton.
Parton adds that achieving product
consistency is crucial, and further
improvements to both airlines' products
and services would be made as they
move towards a fully integrated trans-
Tasman flight schedule in November.